Forest Ferns

Good Morning everyone

Its the first friday of November so time for a new challenge over at Creative Artiste where the theme is anything mixed media goes, using at least 3 different mediums.

I found this lovely fern moulded frame in the charity shop years ago, now the urge came to finally turn it into something else. I decided to go with a forest theme with the ferns, fungi and wood nymphs.  The middle inked panel is like a light emanating from deep in the woods drawing you into the magic within😁

Frame size approx 9x7" (19x23cm) 

See below for how i painted the ferns & frame.  I then printed out some digital fungi at different sizes and adhered among the ferns and to the bottom right of the aperture.  I added to mini tim holtz paper dolls sitting on top of the smaller background toadstools and used a bigger paper doll and added some green holographic acetate wings to him and adhered him to the front of the picture as my little forest nymphs. 

I felt it needed something red/orange in the top left corner to balance it but none of the toadstools worked and i found this orange/red acetate butterfly in my stash which fit perfectly. 

You can just about make out the light hitting the holographic wings here - in real life they really do sparkle

The glass isn't removeable so i covered that first to protect it.  I then coated the whole frame in black gesso.  Then i got layering up various green paints, starting with the darkest ones first and getting lighter with each layer.  

My last green layer was a very bright almost yellow green just added where the light would naturally hit the leaves.  Then i added a light touch of gold cadence dora paint to give a little subtle shimmer and coated the whole frame is glossy mod podge to help seal and protect it. 

I added green and yellow alcohol inks to the back of the glass to give the effect of dappled sunlight through the leaves, keeping it almost free of ink where i wanted my quote to go....here i just used a felt pad to lightly dab the ink.  As you can't remove the glass the only option was to stamp my quote onto white card and add it behind so I didn't want the ink obscuring it too much. 

This is one of my favourite quotes.  Its from Inkylicious and an oldie but goodie. 

And this is how it started out with an old gold finish

Items Used:

Inkilicious stamp 'forest quote'

Toadstool digitals 'Mixed Media Toadstools' from Double Helix Digitals on Etsy

Tim HOltz paper dolls

acetate butterflies

Cadence Dora paint

Folk art matt acrylic paints

Tim Holtz alcohol inks

Mod podge glossy and matt

 Hop over to Creative Artiste to join in, anything mixed media goes - atc's, cards, journal pages, 3d projects, wall art, small or large, everything welcome as long as you mixed your mediums 

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Trust the weather to turn cold with a bitterly wind the week we are having the heating replaced so wrapped up like mummies to keep warm and then we now have a giant hole in the ceiling where the electrician fell through - oh what fun.  It might have been comical if it hadn't been 9.30 at night and I then had to sort him out and the mess....Plus the reason he fell through is because it was all soaking wet from a water leak from the team that installed the system the 2 days before!   My MS is really complaining now sitting in the cold!    So with the mess that has created im so glad i did box everything possible up, far easier to clean a plastic box than all my craft stash and decorative tatt.

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Id love to enter the following:

https://mixitupchallenge.blogspot.com/2026/11/miucb-86-anything-goes-optional.html

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https://paper-rocks-scissors.blogspot.com/2026/11/november-22-challenge.html - used scissors to cut out the toadstools which were printed onto paper

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https://www.simplyellibelle.com/2026/10/i-spy-with-my-little-eye-autumn-in.html

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https://tuesdaytaggers.blogspot.com/2026/10/make-it-magical.html - magical wood nymph

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https://daranddiane.blogspot.com/2026/11/double-d-textures-challenge-2026.html - textures - the moulded ferns are very tactile and deep, along with the glossy shiny finish of the acetate and wings

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https://tolanythingbutacard.blogspot.com/2026/10/the-outlawz-anything-but-card-november.html - anything goes option

 

Creative Artiste - butterfly shadow box

Good Morning everyone

Its the first friday of the month so time for a new challenge over at 

Creative Artiste where the theme is anything goes 

MIXED MEDIA

using at least 3 different mediums

Ive made a bijou project this month, a little 4x4" butterfly shadow box.  I had these little wooden boxes which came with little wooden shapes in them that my nieces crafted with but i kept the boxes as thought one day they would be useful.  I found both them and my pack of acetate butterflies at the same time while looking for something else and thought they fitted together perfectly. 

Kind of like the old butterfly collections but thankfully in this case no butterflies have been harmed!

Box size approx 4x4" (10x10cm)

See below for how i decorated the box with photos.  To finish the box i edged the front of all the slots with gold - which sadly the photos don't pick up but really shimmers in the light.

I then added a butterfly to some of the slots, bending them in the middle and adhering with pinflair glue gel.  I went through a large pile of aall&create chat stickers until i found some i felt suitable - these are pre-coloured, i matted onto charcoal card which i edged with the same gold used to gild the box edges.  These i added into place again with glue gel so they stand proud.

We should all RESPECT nature and help it to THRIVE for it brings us SERENTIY & FREEDOM 

You can make out the gold edges a bit better here

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and onto the box

The pack of butterflies are predominately green in colour with flashes of yellow and orange, so for the box i went with a bright green, teal, yellow, orange and splash of pink in random areas.  I did coat the box first in white gesso to stop the wood absorbing too much of the colour. 

Then i toned it down by dry brushing on off whites...here you can see what a difference it makes.  You might say its a waste, but if i just used pastel paints they look completely different, whereas using the brights and then knocking back you still get the true colour coming through rather than a muddy pastel....dry brushing on the white just softens it all into the background so that my butterflies stand out....if Id kept the colour so intense you wouldn't see the focal point.  I used a matt/chalk based white acrylic so you only need a very small amount.

For some interest I added some torn pieces of texted washi tape once the paint was dry

You might want to click on this photo to make it full screen to really see the difference.........Id decided it needed something more and as the sections are too small to get in with stencils or stamps i decided to doodled with paint pens - well i didn't much like that and thought 'what have i done' but as is usually the case with artwork - its a process and never finished until its finished.....i added a very light layer of white over the doodling which helped blend it into the background a little and made a massive difference - photo on the right is after ive lightly dry brushed on the white and its just softens the doodling.

Items Used:

4x4" wood box

Acetate butterflies

Acrylic paints

Plaid Folkart - 515 vintage white, 455 med yellow, 628 orange, 2553 lime,

99257 mystic turquoise

Andy Skinner chalk paint - Ice blue, cool mint

Marabu Crea - Fuschia Pink

Cadence Dora Paint - Rich gold

Posca Paint pens

Aall&create chat sticker

Black card

Hop over to Creative Artiste to join in with all your mixed media creations be the little or large, atc or home decor, anything goes with mixed mediums.

Id Love to enter the following:

https://www.simplyellibelle.com/2026/07/i-spy-with-my-little-eye-something-with.html - things with wings

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https://dd-tripleb.blogspot.com/2026/08/tb-august-2026-challenge.html

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https://tuesdaytaggers.blogspot.com/2026/08/make-it-colourful.html

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https://tolanythingbutacard.blogspot.com/2026/07/the-outlawz-anything-but-card-august.html

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https://thefourseasonschallenge.blogspot.com/2026/08/summer-season-august-2026.html

 

Natural beauty - butterflies

Good Morning

Its the first Friday of the month so time for a new challenge over at Creative Artiste Mixed Media where the theme is anything mixed media goes, using at least 3 different mediums.

 I made this mdf plaque home decor piece for a friends birthday.  Her favourite colour is purple so I started with that.  We've had some sun this week so Ive seen a few early butterflies out, a couple of brimstones & painted ladies so spring must be here😀

This is another one I forgot to measure before posting but I think it was approx 6x10" 

See below for how I did the background.  I took the chipboard butterflies and on 2 base layers and 1 top layer 1 painted with pale and dark purple paints and then on the other 2 top layers and 1 base layer I used an interference paint which is purple until the light hits it when it turns gold.  Once dry I layered the butterflies together. 

 Inspired by my fellow DT at Creative Artiste Tracey at hotchpotchcreations who uses alot of seed beads in her creations I decided to use some of the million seed beads I have for the bodies of the butterflies - I chose beads in a mix of purples and golds, when the light hits them they really sparkle and shimmer.

I raided my stash of alphas and decided on 'natural beauty' the smaller ones are plastic ones by tim holtz which I covered with very dark green acrylic to take the plastic look away and the larger ones are chipboard which I painted with the purples used on the butterflies.  I then worked out the placement for the alphas and the butterflies and adhered all into place.

You can see the dimension on the butterflies better here and the beads give a lovely 3d effect to the bodies.  To stick the seed beads I added a good layer of tacky pva glue and waited for it to start going sticky and then added plenty of beads and pushed into the glue, once completely dry i brushed off any that hadn't stuck. 

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onto how I did the background

I first coated the background in pink and purple acrylic paints and once dry added texture paste through a large floral stencil, this is a nice big stencil so i could easily pick out the flowers i wanted.  I edged around the flowers with green paints and then dry brushed on a yellowy orange paint to just catch the texture paste flowers 

I added gold glitter paste through a foliage stencil but it wasn't very effective, i think the glitter too chunky for the stencil so switched to gold paint instead, you can just make out both here.  Once the background was finished i coated in mod podge to seal and protect.

This is how it started off - a charity shop find for £1 - I bought it with the sole intention of upcycling it.... First i gave it a light sanding with fine sandpaper and then a coat of gesso and no one would know Tenerife was there!    I also found the pack of greyboard butterflies in the charity shop for £1 so a bargain and the starting point for this project was born.  Now that im doing more mixed media projects  I do pop in charity shops more just to see what they have that I can use as a substrate and to upcycle. Its win win as it supports the charity shop and gives me affordable bases to work on..........mind you I do also have plenty of 'proper' substrates in the cupboard but it is fun to see how something preloved can be turned into something new. 

Items Used:

MDF plaque

Maya Road Chipboard butterflies 

Cosmic shimmer glitter paste 'sahara gold'

Marabu Crea texture paste

Decoart Metallic 'splendid gold'

Pebeo & Folk art acrylic paints

Folk art 'color shift' 'blue violet flash'

Thats crafty 7x7" stencil

13@rts stencil 'tiny leaves'

Tim Holtz adhesive alphas

Chipboard alphas

Gold & Purple seed beads

So hop over to Creative Artiste to join in and see what the rest of the DT created while mixing their mediums

Thank you all for popping by once again. I am still having issues with my eyes especially close up but determined to keep crafting and now using a magnifying glass that hangs around my neck so that is helping a bit but can only do small sessions but better than no crafting! Emmax

Id love to enter the following:

https://craftingfromtheartchallenge.blogspot.com/2026/02/february-challenge-2026.html

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https://dd-tripleb.blogspot.com/2026/03/march-2026-tb-challenge.html

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https://stencilfun.blogspot.com/2026/03/stencil-fun-march-2026-challenge.html  I used a large floral stencil and a small foliage stencil

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https://dragonflydreamschallenges.blogspot.com/2026/03/march-challenge-butterflies.html

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https://tolanythingbutacard.blogspot.com/2026/02/the-outlawz-anything-but-card-march.html

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https://www.simplyellibelle.com/2026/02/garden-party-no-12-anything-in-or-from.html

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Creative Creases Aug

Good Morning everyone

This is my 2nd post this morning, if the scheduling goes to plan

I am honoured once again to be Guest DT over at Creative Creases where anything goes with a fancy fold.  

I decided to try one of the many fancy folds on my 'to try' list and make a hexagon pop up card.  After reading a few step by steps online I ended up using the one from beccys place as it was clear and easy to follow

Ive used 2 stamp sets, one leafy one from aall&create and a lovely quote from inkalicious and one ink pad which is an ombre one.

I first cut and folded the card from white linen cardstock.  Onto another piece of white I multiple stamped the leafy background stamp with an ombre ink which has lovely shades of green from lime through to a greeny blue. I then cut the panels out to fit the 6 sides of the base.  I die cut the rest of the leafy background sheet with a leafy sprig die.  Onto a white die cut circle I stamped the quote and then framed it with the die cut leaves

3 acetate butterflies to finish

Such a lovely quote... there is something very peaceful and calming about being surrounded by nothing but nature.  I love the effect of die cutting the leaves from the leafy background stamp, makes an interesting finish to them which is also softer than a solid colour would be.

On the back of the card I lined up a smaller white die cut circle with the one on the front and then added a smaller circle die cut from a pale paper for a place to write the greeting.  I also lined the inside panels with a green paper to give a more finished look.

Just showing it side on

and it folds completely flat for posting which is great.

Items Used

aall&create stamp #556 'leaves'

Inkilicious stamp 'forest quote'

CheeryLynn Foliage die

acetate butterflies (ebay find)

Kaleidacolor Ombre ink pad 'caribbean sea'

craftUk ltd 300gsm white linen card

So do hop over to Creative Creases challenge to see what everyone came up with and to join in - anything goes with a fancy fold. 

  I hope you all have a great weekend.  Big hugs Emmax

Id love to enter the following:

https://sweetstampinchallengeblog.blogspot.com/2025/07/anything-but-square.html

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https://traumfabrik-challenge.blogspot.com/2025/07/challenge-141-spotlight-highlight-or.html - my sentiment/quote is made the focus with the frame to draw the eye in